ST. JOSEPH: 

THE MAN BEHIND THE SCENE

INTRODUCTION

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph. We see statues of him on pedestals— or pictures of him on walls - in churches and homes and on memorial cards. We see images of him with the tools of his trade in his hand—Joseph the Carpenter—or with a flower, a symbol of his purity—as husband of Mary - or holding the Christ child or teaching him a trade.

QUESTION—WONDERING

When it comes to saints, I often wonder why it is or what it is that makes this particular saint, this particular person stand out from the rest of people. To stand out enough to be put up on a pedestal!

What is the energy! What part of us does the life of this saint touch that we want to accentuate!

That’s what hits me about saints. Or in other words, “Patron Saint of What?” and “Why?”

ST. JOSEPH

We know so little about St. Joseph. Yet the name “Joseph”, “Saint Joseph” hits certain cords in people’s hearts.

What is it?

What is it about St. Joseph?

What is it that makes him a big name among the Italians—a Jewish boy—famous among the Italians. Giuseppe! Today is a big feast day. There are lots of pastry and special ones just for this day.

What is that makes him a special saint among the Poles?

What is it that makes him so popular that so many orders of religious women chose to be named after him: “Sisters of St. Joseph!”

Today, this has lessened, with less kids being named Joseph.

But still, what about Joseph? Why Joseph? Why the fame? What myth, archetype does he touch? What does he touch in our life that makes him famous?

OTHER JOSEPH’S

In the scriptures we know more about Joseph of Arimathea than about Joseph of Nazareth. We know even more about Joseph of the OT. So what is it about St. Joseph that makes him so popular?

ANSWER

I think the answer is the reality that 99 % of the people on our planet are what we call: THE NECESSARY PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES OF LIFE.

That is the universal vocation of all: to keep all moving—to keep life going—to keep the planet going.

And I think Joseph is the patron saint of the anonymous people—all those people behind the scenes—while the main characters and actors on stage get the credit.

EXAMPLES

Take our everyday life.

Somebody puts the bread out and cereal out and someone fills the juice machine. We only know those things exist till they are missing and we have to go to the back box to get milk or the big plastic racks for bread. We only know the juice needs replenishing when its light is blinking.

Today’s papers. Who are the people who put the paper on the print presses? Who are the copy people? Who drives the newspapers to small and big stores,  so the store has them at 7:00 or 8:00 AM?

Who drives the bus? Who are the truck drivers?

Who does the dishes in the diner or the restaurant? Who put the cable down or cable up for our telephones or TV?

We watch the evening news and there is anchor woman or man.  We don’t see the camera crew. We don’t see the people who drove Martha Raditz  to Capital Hill and set everything up. Their name might be at the end of the news in small print, but we don’t stop to see it.

ST. JOSEPH

So I see St. Joseph as the example, the model, the archetype, of the person behind the scenes.

He represents Parents, Teachers.  Doctors, Truck Drivers, etc.

And what about telephone operators and air traffic controllers. What about FDA researchers who look at drugs. And what about those who put the weather together?

We only see the stars.

We really don’t see the dad after he walks his daughter down the aisle.

THE ENERGY

That’s where I see the energy when it comes to St. Joseph. We need a bit of encouragement every once and a while and on the feast of St. Joseph, the message is that everyone counts. Everyone is needed. We are the little people on the planet, but every little one counts. Today we celebrate Joseph. One of ours has made it.


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Picture on top: Holding Heaven - Dicianne

March     18, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Waiting sometimes is the only thing left to do.  You learn to wait, or your forfeit the lesson  you were supposed to learn.”  

Anonymous

March 18, 2019

MY  MEMORY

I thought my skin, my bones, my body

were aging - but you should see my memory.

Pea shooters, toy guns, games, fire crackers,

Coney Island, Little League games, school ….

Those were my  memories at 13 - but now

at 79, my memory is like a November night….

Clouds gliding by a silver moon, empty trees

scratching the skin of the night sky ….

Birthdays, burials, sights, sounds from trips

and great friends: failures but so many wins….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March 18, 2019

THREE   THOUGHTS 

ABOUT  JUDGING 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today -this  2^nd Monday of Lent -  is, “Three  Thoughts About Judging.”

Today’s gospel - Luke 6: 36- 38 - addresses the issue about judging - which many people - judge themselves guilty about on a regular basis.

Like everyone, I have often thought about this issue about judging others.  So let me give 3 thoughts about judging in this homily.

FIRST THOUGHT: SAY, “I’M WRONG.”

The first thought is to say to oneself, when one makes a judgment about another,  “I’m wrong.”

Everyone thinks differently. Even identical twins. Our experiences effect our thinking - so our motives for doing what we do, comes from our experience with why we say what we say, why we think what we think, and why we do what we do.

1 million things, inner conversations, outer experiences, are all different in every human being - so how can we think alike?

We get angry or we inwardly say when another judges our motives, “Wait a minute. You don’t know why I just said or did what I just  did, so stop judging me from your motives.  They are your projections - not mine.”

Golden rule: We don’t like it when others judge us, so stop judging.

I’m wrong every time - because motivation is multi-layered, multi-reasons, multi-backgrounded.

Wait a minute! Get your hands on  a memory when you judged someone and you found out you were dead wrong. Say to yourself, “Remember that experience, that last time you  judged and wow was I so wrong.”

Here’s an experience: Someone is sitting there and they see a boy turn around and look back at a girl - 3 rows behind. He keeps doing it.  Surprise we find out that he’s not looking at her, but he’s turning to check the clock just over her head on the back wall. He wants out of there because he has to go to the bathroom. She thinks he’s looking at her. We think he’s checking her out. Nope.

2) THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUDGMENT AND PERCEPTION AND SECOND JUDGMENT.

Second message: some people are big on perceiving; some people are big on judging.

It’s not’s virtuous.  People are often just one way more than the other.

A person walks into a store or a church or a room and says, “This room is stupid, the way it looks or is laid out.”

Another person walks into a store or a church or a room and says, “Interesting, the way the pretzels are right across from the Coca Cola.”  Or,  “Interesting the way the benches are.”

I score high on perception. Others score high on judgment on Judgment-Perception Surveys or Self-Tests.

It’s the next step where judgment takes place - after we understand our first reaction.

Some people automatically make a judgement. There is no sin involved.  Some people automatically make a perception. There is no virtue involved.

3) GO FOR BIG COMPASSION

My third point comes from today’s 2 readings - especially the Gospel.

Jesus says have great compassion and mercy in judging others.

Jesus says that the measure we measure with comes back at us.

If we’re stingy with compassion and understanding, yuck. There’s a better way to be.

I love the joke about the one armed fisherman or a one armed golfer.

Did you hear about the one armed fisherman? He caught a fish this big.

Did you hear about the one armed golfer. He missed the putt by this much.

In both cases I’m putting one arm out.

Well, with regards judging someone, miss by this much. Hold out one arm.

Enough.

How are you judging my homily?  Sorry, I had a crazy morning - and didn't get enough time to do this better.

TRANSFIGURATION 

MOMENTS AND PLACES

 INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Transfiguration Moments and Places.”

I like these  2^nd Sunday in Lent readings: the transfiguration scene. We hear 3 versions of it: Mark last year, Luke this year, and Matthew next year.

For this homily I would simply ask you to do what I’m about to do: go through your life and pick transfiguration moments and places that transfigured you - changed you - stunned and stopped you.

I’ll give you a list of some of the places and moments I picked - so that you might do the same.

They could be an early morning moment at Rehoboth beach when you got up all alone and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise - or a night time moment  - when you stopped to look up at the sky like Abram did in today’s first reading and you counted the stars - and there you were with God.

Here are 7 places I picked. What are your 7 or 10 great moments - or places - where God was transfigured before you - and you saw the light - and you said in prayer, “God it is good that I am here.”

#  1  - MOUNT OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

The first would be the day we took a bus up to the Mount of Transfiguration place in Israel. It might be the place. It might not be the place. But it was a place there or near there that got the tradition: “It was here that Jesus experienced a transfiguration moment.”

We went by bus - 24 priests with a  Franciscan, Father Stephen Doyle leading us - up the mount of the transfiguration. The bus was easier than doing it on foot.

We had Mass in the church up on top.  Stephen read the gospel story of the Transfiguration and then after Mass he  gave us an hour of silence.

For the hour of quiet prayer,  I went up the roof of another  building up there. I was all by myself in the quiet - seeing the Golan Heights in the distance and the green pasture lands down below.

A guy had asked me when he heard I was going to Israel, “How do the sheep get fed?  Whenever I see Israel on TV, it’s desert and dryness. Well when I got back I told this guy, “In the north there is plenty of green pastures and sheep and goats.

After the hour of quiet we had a lunch at a Franciscan monastery up on top as well.  It was a spaghetti dinner.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.  The bread was good as well….

# 2 - ZION NATIONAL PARK

The next place I would pick is Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I never knew it existed till I went there.

If you ever get a chance to see National Parks in the southwest - make sure you include Zion National Park. If you get to the Grand Canyon, you’re in striking distance of Zion.  Wow. Well worth it.

I was with another priest, Tom, whom I worked with for 8 ½ years before I came to Annapolis. I was preaching in Tucson - and he flew out when I finished and we had a great 2 week vacation.  Zion was the best.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

#  3  -  LAKE OF SOLITUDE

The next place would be Lake of Solitude in the Rockies.  4 of us were backpacking - and were  headed for a place called Black Lake.  Well, we met these 3 guys from Boston who were also backpacking. They asked us where we were headed and we said, “Black Lake.”  They said they were there - but much better was Lake of Solitude.  They gave us directions and we had maps - and we changed our plans.

We made it. Sure enough. it was like a church without a ceiling - and the sanctuary was a pool of water - holding the blue sky and some clouds. that flowed into a small lake - listed as the Lake of Solitude. We immediately started saying an Our Father.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

# 4  CHARTRES CATHEDRAL

I always wanted to go to Chartres Cathedral - not that far a distance from Paris - and it was all I hoped for.

A Malcom Miller gave the tour - 2 hours in the morning - 2 hours in the afternoon - and we came back the next morning - for another 2 hours. He would explain 2 stained glass windows at a time - and some other aspects of medieval cathedrals.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

Chartres was Lourdes and Fatima - a great Marian Shrine - long before Lourdes and Fatima - and people from all over Europe made pilgrimages to there.

# 5 THIS CHURCH

Next I would add this church. It’s been here since 1858.

Sense all the prayers still moving around this sacred place.

Think of all the tears shed in this sacred space.

I mention this church to trigger the thought: What have been the sacred places and spaces - the churches of your lifetime.

Where is your spot in this church?

Do you have a favorite bench?

Is it up here where babies are baptized or right there where couples make their vows.

Is it a confessional - or a place where you went to a special communion - maybe having dropped out for a while.

Let me point out two spots in this church - that have deep lingering feelings for me.

A woman died right there - after a wedding - when they were taking pictures. [Point]

I had a funeral for a 3 day old baby. Her remains were on a small table - right there [Point]

Lord, sometimes it’s sad to be here. Lord sometimes we’re glad to be here. Lord sometimes we need you.

# 6 MOM AND DAD’S BURIAL VAULT

Next - and this is true for so many people - there is the place where our loved ones are buried.

Where are you cemeteries?

My mom and dad are buried on the 4^th floor of an enormous building - a mausoleum at St. John’s Cemetery in Queens, NY.

It’s neat. It’s clean. It has piped in music. It has marble seats. It’s a sacred place.

I was looking this up today on line and Google said that Lucky Luciano, John Gotti, Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese are buried in this same cemetery.  Fine Irish men to mention on a day like today.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

# 7 IRELAND - FIRST TIME.

And my last place would be a moment when our plane came towards the coast of Ireland. I had a great window seat. I could see the coast as we headed for Shannon Air Port. I could see the green. And a thrill came over me. I’m about to see for the first time, the place where my mom and dad are from.

The green was beautiful that bright morning.

Lord it is good to be here.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily  was “Transfiguration Moments and Places.”

I just mentioned 7 places that are sacred - and I ask you to name 5 or 7 of yours.

And tell them to each other. Amen.

HAPPY  ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY

10,000
BLESSINGS 
TO YOU
AND YOUR 
FAMILY
TODAY

March 17, 2019

PEACE  AND  QUIET  TODAY

Peace and Quiet within our hearts today. 

Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our families today. Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our neighbors today. Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our world today. 

Amen

So we can hear the roar of the deep ocean called, “God” within us today. 

Amen.

So we can hear the music and the dancing

in our neighbor's  homes today as well. 

Amen.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019